The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations on Wednesday underlined the urgent need to close a $6 billion funding shortfall to expand irrigation across West Africa and the Sahel region.
FAO Subregional Coordinator for West Africa and acting representative for Senegal, Bintia Stephen-Tchicaya who stated this at the Hand-in-Hand Sub-Regional Investment Forum in Abuja, called for solidarity and funding partnership.
According to her, ten Sahelian countries of Burkina Faso, Chad, Cameroon, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal, along with regional organisations the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS) and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have developed five-year irrigation investment plans targeting 1.2 million hectares.
These plans, she said, required about $8 billion with only $2 billion already committed.
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"Irrigation is not just a technical solution; it is a strategic enabler it enhances productivity, builds resilience against climate change, and empowers communities, countries are therefore seeking partnerships with resource partners to help bridge the $6 billion gap," Stephen-Tchicaya explained.
"In addition, market linkages and value chain development are being factored in to ensure reliable outlets for produce from irrigated areas.
"FAO has outstanding experience in supporting irrigation globally and in the sub-region, by organising this forum, FAO reaffirmed its commitment to supporting irrigation in the sub-region and calls for your collaboration in order to reach results on a bigger scale.
"Partnerships are the cornerstone of success, FAO and governments alone cannot do it, we need the private sector, financial institutions, research bodies and civil society to co-invest, co-design, and co-implement solutions", she added.
FAO representative in Nigeria and to ECOWAS, Dr Hussein Gadain outlined three strategic pillars for action, including sustainable land and water management, transformation of agri-food production systems and stronger research and innovation capacity.
He also urged governments to put agriculture at the centre of their development agendas.
"Your leadership is critical and catalytic, simplify political processes for investors and ensure that your national policies create an enabling environment for climate-smart, inclusive businesses", Gadain said.
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Nigeria's Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari urged governments to provide enabling policies, land reforms, and infrastructure to attract private capital.
He noted irrigation as the critical enabler that can transform subsistence farming into a thriving, business-oriented enterprise, saying, "Without water security, there can be no food security."
He identified that the role of the gathering as the launchpad for a new chapter of investment in water for agriculture while charging the private sector to "look at the Sahel, not as a zone of risk, but as the next frontier of opportunity."
